Volleyball Rolls Past Saint Peterís

The Canisius College volleyball team picked up its fourth-straight win on Sunday afternoon by sweeping visiting Saint Peter’s in the Koessler Athletic Center. The Golden Griffins moved to 10-13 overall and 8-4 in MAAC play after posting wins by scores of 25-13, 25-15, 25-21. The Peacocks fell to 4-23 overall and 2-13 in league play with the loss.

Every Canisius player on the roster saw time in the match on Sunday and six players recorded three or more kills in the victory for the Blue and Gold. Senior Emily Elek led the way for Canisius with eight kills, while sophomore Rachel Kline added seven kills and 11 digs to the winning effort. Junior Olivia Chrzanowski came off the bench and recorded four kills and four digs to go with a career-high four service aces. Senior Sydney Palka and sophomore Grace Streicher chipped in 15 and 10 assists, respectively and junior libero Emily Litwin had 11 digs, eight assists and three aces for Canisius, which ended the match hitting .244 as a team.

“I thought we did a good job taking care of things today as we continue to look to play match by match,” Canisius head coach Cathy Hummel said. “This was a nice challenge for some of our reserves because you never know when we’re going to need to call on some of those players down the stretch.”

In the first set, Canisius jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back. The Griffs led 9-3 before Saint Peter’s took a timeout, and the Blue and Gold stretched its hold to 15-5 moments later on a kill by sophomore Lauren Siebert. Freshman Katlyn Tyler recorded four kills in the first set to help Canisius drive its lead to 20-9, and Kline ended the opening set with a kill off an assist from Palka.

In the second set, Canisius trailed Saint Peter’s 2-1 early, but used a 9-0 to jump out to a 10-2 lead en route to the 25-15 win. In the third set, the Peacocks led 11-6 before the Griffs outscored the visiting team by a 9-4 clip to knot the game at 15-15. Saint Peter’s pushed back to take a 19-16 lead midway through the final set, but Canisius answered by outscoring the Peacocks 9-2 to seal the victory with a 25-21 win.

Saint Peter’s junior Dayana Arrufat led her team with five kills, while senior Jennifer Pliska had nine digs. The Peacocks recorded 14 block assists in the losing effort and the team hit .060 for the contest.

Canisius will begin a four-match road swing Nov. 1, when the team plays at Iona. That match is set to begin at 2 p.m. The Griffs will then travel to play at Manhattan Nov. 2.

Game Notes: Canisius swept the regular-season series against Saint Peter’s and has now won 18 of the last 21 meetings between the two Jesuit schools… The Griffs’ current four-match winning streak is the team’s longest of the season… Canisius has now won eight or more league matches in eight-straight seasons… Litwin’s three service aces ties her career high, which she set previously against Saint Peter’s Nov. 4, 2012… The win on Sunday was the 169th career victory for Hummel, who is in her 13th season as the program’s head coach.